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Chapter 55InclA.1.55

Caput LIV. De receptione Christi in domo Marthae et Mariae.

Christ's Love for the Bethany Household

Aelred introduces Bethany as the place of sacred friendship, recalling Christ's love for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, his tears at the tomb, and the dinner prepared in response.

But we must leave this place and move on to Bethany, where the most sacred bonds of friendship are consecrated by the Lord's own authority. For Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus — and no one who thinks carefully can doubt that he was held fast by the bond of hospitable friendship, with which they clung to him in the most intimate affection.✦1 Those sweet tears he shed alongside those who wept are proof of it — tears that the whole crowd understood as a sign of love.✦2 'See how much he loved him,' they said — and look, they're preparing a dinner for him there, and Martha is serving.✦✦3 Lazarus, for his part, was one of those reclining at table.✦ Mary, however, took an alabaster jar of perfume, and breaking the jar she poured it over the head of Jesus (John✦ 11:36; 12:2, 3).✦ Rejoice, I pray you, in being present at this feast — and notice the distinct role each one plays.

Breaking the Alabaster Flask of Your Heart

Aelred calls the reader to imitate Mary's anointing by pouring out all devotion on Christ, even when others murmur or accuse, because the divine judge defends the penitent.

Martha serves, Lazarus reclines, Mary anoints. This last act is yours. So break the alabaster flask of your heart, and whatever devotion you have, whatever love, whatever desire, whatever affection — pour it all out over the head of your bridegroom, worshipping in God the man, and in man God.✦ If someone growls, if someone murmurs, if someone envies, if a traitor calls devotion destruction — don't let it concern you.✦ 'Why this waste?' he says.✦ This ointment could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor!✦ The Pharisee murmurs, envying the penitent one; Judas murmurs, envying the pouring out of the ointment.✦ But the judge does not accept the accusation — he acquits the one accused.✦

Christ's Vindication and the Call to Contemplation

Christ silences the accusers, declares Mary's work good, and claims her as uniquely his own, inviting the reader into the contemplative posture of gazing, listening, and clinging to him.

"Leave her," he says.✦ She has done a good work toward me. (Mark✦ 14:4–6). Let Martha work, let her serve, let her prepare lodging for the stranger, food for the hungry, clothing for the one who shivers. I belong to Mary alone, and she to me: let her offer all that she has; let her expect from me whatever she desires. Why, after all? Would you consider Mary's feet — which she kisses so tenderly — to be left alone? Or to turn your eyes away from that most beautiful face upon which she gazes?

The Intimacy of the Contemplative Gaze

Aelred closes by asking whether the reader can turn away from Christ's beautiful face or withdraw from the hearing refreshed by his sweet speech.

Must we push away the hearing that is refreshed by her sweet speech?

Read the original Latin

Sed exeundum est hinc, et ad Bethaniam veniendum, ubi sacratissima foedera amicitiae auctoritate Domini consecrantur. Diligebat enim Jesus Martham et Mariam, et Lazarum, quod hospitalis amicitiae, qua illi familiariori adhaerebant affectu, detineri nemo qui ambigat. Testes sunt lacrymae illae dulces, quibus lacrymatus est cum lacrymantibus, quas totus populus amoris interpretatur indicium. Videte, inquiunt, quomodo amabat eum; et ecce ponunt ei coenam ibi, et Martha ministrabat. Lazarus autem erat unus ex discumbentibus. Maria autem sumpsit alabastrum unguenti, et fracto alabastro effudit super caput Jesu (Joan. XI, 36; XII, 2, 3). Gaude, quaeso, huic interesse convivio, singulorum distingue officia.

Martha ministrat, discumbit Lazarus, ungit Maria. Hoc ultimum tuum est. Frange igitur alabastrum cordis, et quidquid habes devotionis, quidquid amoris, quidquid desiderii, quidquid affectionis, totum effunde super sponsi tui caput, adorans in Deo hominem, et in homine Deum. Si fremit, si murmurat, si invidet, si proditor perditionem vocat devotionem, non sit tibi curae. Utquid, ait, perditio haec? Posset hoc unguentum venundari multo, et dari pauperibus! Pharisaeus murmurat, invidens poenitenti: murmurat Judas, invidens effusioni unguenti. Sed judex accusationem non recipit, accusatam absolvit.

Sinite, inquit, illam. Bonum enim opus operata est in me (Marc. XIV, 4-6). Laboret Martha, ministret, paret hospitium peregrino, esurienti cibum, vestem algenti. Ego solus Mariae, et illa mihi: totum praestet, quod habet; a me quidquid optat, exspectet. Quid enim? Tune Mariae consulis relinquendos pedes, quos tam dulciter osculatur? avertendos oculos ab illa speciosissima facie quam contemplatur?

amovendum auditum ab ejus suavi sermone quo reficitur?

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩John.11.5 — Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
  2. ↩John.11.35 — Jesus wept.
  3. ↩John.11.36 — So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
  4. ↩John.12.2 — So they made a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him.
  5. ↩John.12.2 — So they made a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him.
  6. ↩John.12.3 — Then Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
  7. ↩John.11.36 — So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
  8. ↩John.12.3;Mark.14.3 — Then Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Mark.14.3 — And while he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly perfume, pure nard. She broke the jar and poured it over his head.
  9. ↩John.12.4-John.12.6 — But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, the one who was about to betray him, said, John.12.5 — Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor? John.12.6 — He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he held the money bag and used to steal what was put into it.
  10. ↩Matt.26.8;John.12.4-John.12.5 — But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, 'Why this waste?' John.12.4 — But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, the one who was about to betray him, said, John.12.5 — Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?
  11. ↩John.12.5 — Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?
  12. ↩Luke.7.39;John.12.4-John.12.6 — Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, 'If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is: that she is a sinner.' John.12.4 — But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, the one who was about to betray him, said, John.12.5 — Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor? John.12.6 — He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he held the money bag and used to steal what was put into it.
  13. ↩Mark.14.6;John.8.10-John.8.11 — But Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me." John.8.10 — Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?" John.8.11 — She said, "No one, Lord." Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on, sin no more."
  14. ↩John.12.7 — Jesus said, "Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial."
  15. ↩Mark.14.6 — But Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me."

Notes

  1. 1 ↩hospitalis amicitiae rendered as 'hospitable friendship' to capture the Latin sense of welcoming, guest–host warmth rather than mere acquaintance.
  2. 2 ↩The tears in view are most likely those at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:35, 'Jesus wept'), though the author may also be evoking the mourning of the women along the way to Calvary (Luke 23:27–28). The Latin lacrymantibus is ambiguous.
  3. 3 ↩The quotation 'See how much he loved him' echoes John 11:36. The dinner and Martha's service correspond to Luke 10:40 and/or John 12:2.

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